Retired officer brings ‘Sheep Dog Seminars’ on church safety to Little Rock

Little Rock, Arkansas – A native of Arkansas is on his way to Little Rock from across the nation, where he has been instructing churches on how to safeguard their members in an emergency.

Sheep Dog Seminars was founded in 2009 in response to murders and other violent crimes that were occurring in churches all around the world, and all pastors were urged to get engaged.

“Do it because you love your flock. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13 that love always protects,” Sheep Dog Seminars founder Jimmy Meeks said.
Meeks, a retired police officer with 35 years of experience, has also served as a pastor for 50 years. He has traveled to hundreds of churches in more than 40 states, sharing his knowledge on how to make houses of worship safer.

“We get them together and we show them how to better protect your house of worship, which is a need in our day because we have just as many if not more violent deaths occurring on church and faith-based properties as we do the number of victims in school shootings…and it’s been going on for quite some time now,” Meeks said. Sparking Meeks’ journey was a tragic situation that hit home.

“I don’t really do this because I want to. This is my assignment. I was married in a church where 44 years ago a man came in and shot 15 and killed five. I was not there that day, but my grandparents were and my great-grandmother was and it affected them until their dying day. I don’t want people to have to go through the pain and the trauma that comes with surviving an active shooting or a sex crime. I want to show you how to avoid that,” Meeks said.

Meeks is warning everyone to exercise caution.

“It says in the scripture that love always protects and that’s the ultimate motivation for protecting your flock. Love them enough but also wake up to the fact that this is a threat during our day and time. We’ve crossed a line and we’re not going back. We’re not going to go back to a peaceful day if we ever even had that. So, the greatest tip I have is you better wake up. And then there’s seven or eight things you can do that will greatly decrease the chances of you having a violent crime or sex crime at your church or church related event,” Meeks said.

Meeks expressed his hope that his seminars will keep bringing about change and saving lives in all houses of worship.

In Little Rock’s Antioch Missionary Baptist Church on March 2, Sheep Dog Seminars will hold an event.